Regency period rosewood card table- we had one, the queen has two.
Amidst all the furore about the cost of refitting the much tinkered with Buckingham Palace, occluded is the fact the palace is very much a working government building. Although Queen Elizabeth II lives there for part of the year, she doesn’t own the place or its contents, and the bleating from so many anti-monarchist that she should pay for the repairs herself is analogous to insistence that Donald Trump pay for the repairs and maintenance of the White House whilst he is in residence. I pause for a moment until I stop shuddering at the thought…
Although not always occupied by the queen, the building is always in use, and while she is away annually in August, the place is open, as it was this last August, to tourists, including, as it happens, Keith and me.
Marquee for the Bucking Palace Garden Café- location, location…
We’ve gone often over the years, mostly to take in the extraordinary furniture and artwork that, although acquired over centuries by the crown, is not, in the main now owned by the royal family, but is in fact owned by the state. Our visits, while pleasant, do to be frank have a commercial imperative, seeking as we always do to determine if something in the royal collection matches up with something in our own stock in trade, and this year we were in luck. A wonderful Regency period card table had its number matched by two in the Music Room, in the apse overlooking the garden. As an aside, we’ve now sold this piece to a very good client in Montecito. Did the tangential connection with royalty sell the piece? Perhaps not, but it does make for a good talking point.
Buck House ‘royal’ cappuccino- everybody has a living to make
That Keith and I are nakedly commercial in our outlook might seem crass, but we were cheered by the fact that, even amongst the great and the good, a desire to use wealth and position to make some dosh is something we have in common. After dodging the throngs inside, we were glad to find outside hugging the palace’s garden front a pavilion selling light refreshment, of which we were in desperate need. Our late morning cappuccinos were given a special, albeit tacky touch, with a royal crown stenciled in chocolate on top of the foam. Oh, well- everyone has to earn one’s keep, even Queen Elizabeth.